American Ted Ligety clinched the gold medal in a dramatic alpine skiing combined after team mate Bode Miller was disqualified following his first slalom run and Austria’s Benjamin Raich, the leader going into the final run, did not finish.

Miller led after the downhill, clocking 1:38.36 on the run, to lead by 0.32 seconds going into the slalom component.

He completed his first slalom run in 45.32 seconds but was disqualified after straddling a gate.

Had Miller’s time stood, he would have entered the final slalom run with a lead of just under one second.

The colourful Miller accepted his disqualification with good grace, acknowledging his mistake.

“I didn’t protest,” he said.

“(Team officials) said on video you could see it clearly, which if it’s clear, it’s clear. It’s not the first time it’s happened,” he said.

“I have no idea where I hooked a gate. It must have been in the flushes. You go so quick through there.”

Ligety was 32nd after the downhill section of the combined, but two outstanding slalom runs saw him take the gold. He was third fastest in the first slalom run in a time of 44.09 to sit in third place going into the final descent.

Austrian Benjamin Raich led Ligety by 0.86 seconds going into the final run, before Ligety’s time of 43.84 put Raich under pressure. The Austrian had to better Ligety’s overall time of 3:09.35 and Raich cracked, skiing off the course to hand the USA the gold medal.

Croatian Ivica Kostelic took the silver with a total time of 3:09.88 and Rainer Schoenfelder of Austria bronze in 3:10.67.

Kevin Diggerson/AOC
Torino